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IN MEMORIAM. 


Eee RIEL HOLLOND. 


BY 


HENRY A. BOARDMAN. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
feo. LIPPINCOEL-&. CO, 
1871. 





People OL LON D. 





AMONG the numerous letters of sympathy 
which came to me and my family soon after 
hat sad event of the ninth of August last 
(1870), was one from a friend upon whom 
this blow had fallen with an almost crushing 
severity. It contained this passage :—“I am 
wrong and selfish to write of my own great 
sorrow, when your poor heart is bowed by a 
yet greater. Above all earthly friends, I 
know she valued you. Her heart held on 
to you with an ever-tightening grasp. You 
were her counsellor, her guide, her soul’s 
friend, and her own brother. You have 
many appreciating, loving friends, but you 
will be, Oh, so much the poorer for the loss 
of one whose devotion, I think, none other 


could resemble, or nearly approach,—so little 


) 


4 HARRIET HOLLOND. 


was her life separated from yours, so near to 
each, other were your homes, and so con- 
stantly were you together in your absences 
from the city.” } 

I trust it may not seem indelicate in me 
to quote this passage. I place it here at the 
opening of this sketch, first, as indicating the 
reason why I have said nothing, and can say 
nothing, of my friend from the pulpit; and, 
secondly, to explain the simple and familiar 
tone I shall observe in penning this brief 
‘““ MEMORIAL.” 


Ow leaving the Theological Seminary at 
a7mecton, N. }.,1 came to the Tenth Pres- 
byterian Church in Philadelphia, and was 
ordained and installed as its Pastor, No- 
vember 8, 1833. Among the families that 
welcomed me to my new charge, was 
that of Mrs. Ann E. Hottonp. Her hus- 
band, CHARLES HoLtonp, an English gentle- 
man of honorable descent, whose generous 
culture and attractive social qualities lent 
grace and dignity to the sterling virtues 
which formed the basis of his character, had 
died in the faith and hope of the Gospel, on 
the 15th day of March, 1831. Of his family, 
two half-brothers and their sister are still 
living—one of the former being the Rev. 
Epmunp Ho.itonp of London, an excellent 


and evangelical minister of the Church of 


(5) 


6 HARRIET HOLLOND. 


England. Mrs. HoLttonp was left with five 
children. Of these the youngest daughter, 
bearing the mother’s name, was already in 
a decline when I came to the city one 
lingered for eighteen months a fragile, gen- 
tle child, and died May 27) 939 Q@eieeaes 
fourteenth year. An only son; CHAREES 
WILLIAM, born September, 28, 1824, died on 
the 18th of January, 1859. The remaining 
daughters were as follows :—HaArriet, born 
October 12, 1812: Mary, August 23, 1814: 
Fanny, June 28, 1819. Of these, the two 
elder sisters had united with the Tenth 
Church in December, 1832, a few months 
before my ordination: the last joined them 
at the Lord’s Table six weeks after my settle- 
ment—the first Communion service in my 
pastoral life. The three sisters were as 
closely and happily united as any family 
group I have ever known. Fanny was the 
more richly endowed with intellectual gifts. 
That fine face and form enshrined as much 
of mental power and moral worth and true 


nobility of soul, as any I have ever known. 


IN MEMORIAM. 7 


A stranger might not at once detect this. 
For a veil of exquisite modesty and self- 
distrust shut in her costly treasures from_ 
casual eyes. Her sensitive nature shrank 
from observation; but with no irritable or 
morbid feeling. For her bosom was _ the 
home of all the charities. No kindly, loving, 
generous, element can be named, that was 
not incorporated with her being, and exem- 
plified in the daily temper of her life. Her 
sisters, graced with kindred virtues, each the 
other's. peer in all that pertains to true 
womanly refinement and solid worth, always 
regarded Fanny with a just pride in her rare 
abilities, and with an intense affection, in 
which sisterly love was blended with a sort 
of maternal tenderness. It was part of their 
daily life to shield her from every rough wind; 
and if trouble came, to bear it for her. They 
watched over her health and comfort, year 
by year, with a solicitude which knew neither 
interruption nor abatement. 

Of the very few who were admitted to 


the inner shrine of that household sanctuary, 


\ 


8 HARRIET HOLLOND. 


there are but one or two remaining. They 
will agree with me, that it is very rare to 
find, even in the bosom of the most culti- 
vated society, a sight so refreshing as that of 
the union and communion of these three 
sisters. While each had her own marked 
individuality, and a strength and independ- 
ence which commanded undissembled re- 
spect, they were thoroughly at one in their 
principles, aims, and aspirations. With them 
all, the grand, central idea of life, was the 
GREAT REDEMPTION. They felt themselves 
to be no longer their own, but bought 
with a price. And into every plan and pur- 
pose they carried the paramount desire to 
honor Him who had ransomed them with 
His blood. Whatever concerned the well- 
being of the Church, the relief of suffering 
humanity, or the comfort of their friends and 
neighbors, was sure of their ready sympathy. 
Happy in one another, they were never un- 
mindful of the happiness of those around 
them. They had,. somehow, escaped the 


common taint of selfishness, and needed no 


LN MEMORIAM. 9 


argument to convince them that “it is more 
blessed to give than to receive.” 

Such fellowships as this seem to prefigure 
the communion of the saints in glory. They 
do not last long here. A few years passed 
by and Fanny HOoLLonD was one day at- 
tacked with hemorrhage. She understood 
its significance. They all understood it. 
They had too much at stake not to feel 
from the first the chill of the gathering 
shadows. A weary three months saw the 
patient invalid gradually yielding to the 
subtle malady she had inherited. But as the 
poor tabernacle was giving way, the deathless 
spirit was pluming its wings for heaven. An 
evening or two before the close, a friend was 
repeating at her bedside two or three stanzas 
of that precious hymn,— 

“When languor and disease invade 
This trembling house of clay :—’ 

Taking up the hymn just where her friend 

paused, she added,— 


«‘Sweet to lie passive in His hands, 


And know no will but His :—’’ 


10 HARRIET HOLLOND. 


“That,’ said she, “is the sweetest ofaa. 

Thus she went home to her Saviour. The 
threefold cord once broken, was only too 
soon to be severed again. Some two years 
elapsed when her sister Mary, slipping one 
day on the sidewalk, sprained her ankle. The 
accident sent her to her room and kept her 
there. Always delicate, the long confine- 
ment undermined her constitution. With 
the general prostration, her lungs presently 
gave tokens of disease, the sure prelude (in 
her case) of a fatal result. To augment the 
trial of this visitation, her mother was seized 
with a threatening illness. Lying in adjoin- 
ing rooms, the question hung in suspense for 
several weeks, whether the mother or the 
daughter would be taken first. Both sur- 
vived the winter; and Mrs. HoLtonp. died 
on the 29th day of March, 1845. Mary had 
for some days been too feeble even to be car- 
ried into her mother’s room; and a fortnight 
afterward (April 13th), we were gathered in 
silent sorrow around her death-bed. 


I have already adverted to that strong 


IN MEMORIAM. II 


“family likeness” which attached to these 
three: sisters. In humility, in sincerity, in 
gentleness, in liberality, in courtesy, and in 
all that pertains to a beautiful and consistent 
Christian life, she was quite the equal of the 
others. A loving, faithful disciple, she kept 
near to her Saviour; and in her last hours 


He was very near to her. 


“ Gently the passing spirit fled, 
Sustained by grace divine :— 
O may such grace on me be shed, 


And make my end like thine!’ 


If. 


WHEN this double stroke fell, it came with 


surroundings which greatly increased its 


4 


12 HARRIET HOLLOND, 


severity. The lone mourner* that survived, 
had now gone through three years of anx- 
iety, watching, and tears. Her slender frame 
seemed as though it must sink under its 
accumulated burdens. Her flesh and strength 
declined. Her blanched face and cold hands 
became more pallid. The desolation of her 
home preyed upon her spirits. It was a 


renewal of that sad experience,— 


‘‘ Years fly, O Lord! and every year 
More desolate I grow; 
My world of friends thins round me fast, 


Love after love lies low.’’ 


There was no murmuring, no repining; 
but it was apparent to all her friends, that 
unless sustained by an Almighty arm, she 
must soon follow her loved ones to the 
grave. Their prayers received a gracious 
answer. The Man of Sorrows came to his 


suffering child, and walked with her through 





* Two estimable ladies, both widows, her Cousins on the 
maternal side, are still living in Europe, one of them in 


Dublin, the other in Liverpool. 


LN MEMORIAM. 13 


the waters and the fire. During the two en- 
suing years her health, though feeble, was 
somewhat ameliorated. While the prospect 
of permanent relief from the effects of her 
crushing afflictions, was still in suspense, an 
unexpected direction was given to her plans. 
My own health had failed. The physicians 
W@precctived a visit to. Kurope. I resisted it 
as long as possible, but was compelled to 
vield. sin the sunmmer of 1837 or ’38, these 
three sisters had joined my family in their 
excursion to the sea-shore. From that time 
onward we were always together during the 
summer holidays. For a few years Mrs. 
Hoxionp and her daughters were all with us. 
Then the two sisters. And, finally, to the 
close of her life, the friend whose loss we 
now déplore.—In 1847; she readily con- 
sented to go abroad with my wife and my- 
Self. —fo remain at home, would have in- 
volved a trial of feeling both to her and to 
ourselves, for which none of us were pre- 
pared. Her health, too, imperatively de- 
manded a change. We sailed on the 17th of 


14 HARRIET HOLLOGN LZ, 


April of that year, and were absent thirteen 
months. Of the incidents of the tour I do 
not propose to speak. How much _ her 
society contributed to the pleasure it afforded 
us, will be apparent to all who knew her. 
Let it suffice that, once disengaged from 
the painful associations of her home, she en- 
tered warmly into the spirit of our journey, 
recovered, in a good measure, her natural 
serenity, enjoyed everything thoroughly, and, 
by God’s blessing, returned not simply with 
re-established health, but with her constitu- 
tion so renovated that she appeared like a 
different person altogether. This wholesome 
change, already in progress, was accelerated 
during the closing months of our stay in 
Europe. For our slow transit through 
France and a sojourn of several weeks in 
Paris, occurred in the midst of the memorable 
scenes of the Revolution of 1848. To breathe 
an atmosphere so surcharged with excite- 
ment, and traverse, day by day, without 
apprehensions of personal danger, the streets 


of that great metropolis, convulsed as by the 


IN MEMORIAM. 15 


throes of an earthquake, could not fail to 
engross all one’s powers, and, in the case of 
our dear fellow-traveller, to deepen the new 
channels which thought and feeling had 
formed to themselves. ‘These stirring expe- 
riences told with beneficent effect upon her 
health. Nor is there any room to doubt, 
that her year in Europe was the chief means, 
under Providence, of prolonging her valuable 
life for many years. 

These years, it will be seen at the last day, 
were faithfully dedicated to the service of 
God and the well-being of her fellow-creat- 
ures. The sense of her loneliness—the re- 
membrance of what she had lost—the thought 
of her home as it was now, when contrasted 
with what “it might and would have been 
(as she often said to me), had only one of her 
sisters been spared to her’—would some- 
times return upon her with a resistless energy 
which broke up all the fountains of her tears 
and convulsed every fibre of her frame. But 
she did not surrender herself to grief. Bow- 


ing submissively to the rod, she listened, 


16 HARRIET HOLLOND. 


rather, to the lessons it was designed to con- 
vey, and made it the maxim of her life, 


“ What wilt THou have me to do?” 


IIf. 


Ir I were asked to indicate two qualities 
which shone conspicuously in the cluster of 
graces that infolded the character of my 
friend, I should name, as others have done, 
her HUMILITY and her BENEVOLENCE. With 
a somewhat extensive observation of man- 
kind, and after a pastorate covering nearly 
forty years, I am free to put it on record, 
that I have never known, in any sphere of 
life, a more humble Christian, and never a 


more benevolent one. She had inherited a 


LN MEMORIAM. by 


generous fortune. Her social position could 
not have been more elevated. The con- 
sistent and bountiful life she led, attracted 
to her the love and admiration of a very 
large circle of friends, and the loving grat- 
itude of the poor. But nothing ever al- 
lured her even for an hour out of that - 
Vale of Humility along which her path to 
heaven lay.. It was not of deliberation or 
plan or purpose, that she thus kept to the 
footprints of Him who was meek and lowly 
in heart. Rather was it a necessity of her 
sanctified nature. No ill-disguised adulation 
on the part of friends, no involuntary tribute 
to her worth on the part of comparative 
strangers, could ever inspire her with a feel- 
ing of self-complacency, or abate her con- 
sciousness of utter unworthiness as a poor, 
helpless sinner saved, if saved at all, by free 
and sovereign grace. Of this, hereafter. 

I have spoken of her home. Suppose we 
enter it. Very beautiful it is—in furniture, 
in decoration, in all its appointments, such a 
mansion as becomes its tenant. Few houses 


2 


18 HARRIET HOLLOND, 


in our city are so replenished with articles of 
taste and handiwork—curious fabrics from 
various lands, carvings, portfolios of rare 
prints, china and porcelain wares, games, and 
the like. Many of these she collected while 
in Europe. Many were keepsakes from her 
friends. Others she added as occasion served. 
And thus the stock increased with every 
year. A cynical observer might at the first 
elance inveigh against what he would style 
“this extravagance.” But there was no ex- 
travagance in it, and no ostentation. Miss 
HoLitonp was living alone. Her refined 
tastes appreciated the beautiful in nature and 
art, and craved some indulgence in this direc- 
tion,—and no captious tongue, in so far as I 
know, ever animadverted upon it. But the 
true key to it is to be sought farther back in 
her character. Her controlling reason for ac- 
cumulating these treasures of art, lay in the 
gratification they afforded her friends. Her 
sympathy with the young was intense. Con- 
sidering the singularly quiet, undemonstra- 


tive cast of her manners, it was remarkable 


IN MEMORTAM. 19 


how children and youth were drawn to her. 
There seemed a magnetism about her pres- 
ence which they could not resist. And yet 
-a second glance may resolve the problem. 
For that sweet smile which lighted up her 
features, and the kindly, persuasive tones of 
that gentle voice, could not fail to tell alike 
upon children and parents. Who that ever 
met her even in a casual way, cannot re- 
spond to this? 

Certainly the fact admits of no dispute: 
the young enjoyed her society, and her 
house was one of their favorite resorts. She 
was always happy in their happiness. It 
was her custom to devote one or two even- 
ings each winter to the pupils of the Fe- 
male Seminaries represented in our congre- 
gation.* She entered thoroughly into the 
experiences of these school-girls, away from 





* Especially the excellent school of Miss Bonney and 
Miss Dillaye, the latter of these ladies being a valued mem- 
ber of my church, and a friend to whom Miss HOLLOND 


was warmly attached. 


20 HAKRRIL EVOL LCn es, 


their homes, and was glad to give them 
access to her collections. I have often met 
them there; and it would be safe to say 
that the evening they spent at 1214 Walnut 
Street, brought with it as much of inno- 
cent and rational pleasure as any evening 
of the year. Nor did the tide of grateful en- 
joyment flow only in one direction. They 
gave—unconsciously, indeed, but liberally— 
while they received. For those were bright 
and balmy evenings to their genial hostess. 
Repeatedly has she said to me after the com- 
pany had left and the brilliant parlors, still 
disarranged, had subsided into their wonted 
silence, “Well, this is a sort of party that pays 
well. Did you ever see a happier set of girls ?” 

On these,.as on all other occasions sier 
visitors were sure to be impressed with the 
blended grace and dignity of her manners. 
This came to her by a birthright patent. It 
was not the conventional politeness of the 
fashionable world, the overdone airs by 
which made-up people so often betray the 


hand of the artificer. There was no school 


IN MEMORIAM. 21 


of manners which could have taught her any- 
thing. Her native refinement, delicacy, good 
sense, and tact were quite equal to any de- 
mands society might make upon her. Her 
taste in dress and furniture was nearly fault- 
less. In conversation she was uniformly 
ready, affable, discreet, never prosy—neither 
monopolizing the talk, nor chilling her guests 
with frigid monosyllabic responses. Alike 
with casual visitors, at an evening company, 
and presiding at her hospitable board sur- 
rounded by strangers, she displayed the ease, 
the observant thoughtfulness, and the grace- 
ful recognition of individual characteristics, 
which lend to these social ministrations a 
charm that nothing else can supply. The art 
of “ entertaining,’ as well from its intrinsic 
‘value as from its rarity, may fairly claim to be 
enrolled among the “ Fine Arts:’ and herein 


Miss HoLLonpD was a great proficient. 


22 TARRIET HOLLOND. 


IV. 


THERE is another side to her household-life 
which it were inexcusable to pass over. The 
grand drawback to the home comfort of 
American families, lies in the unsatisfactory 
conditions of our domestic service. Whether 
it be the price paid for our democratic insti- 
tutions, the “ Liberty, Equality, and Frater- 
nity” of which we so absurdly boast, or from 
some other cause, we need ‘not stop to in- 
quire. But the annoying fact admits of no 
dispute. This tie is, for the most part, all 
over the country, a tie not of affection, 
scarcely of principle, but one of sheer inter- 
est and convenience. With Miss HoLLonp 
it was otherwise. Living as she did alone, 
her experience supplied one of those striking 
instances of compensation, wherein a benign 


Providence sometimes comes to the relief of 


IN MEMORIAM. 23 


His stricken children. It pleased Him to send 
her, many years ago, three faithful women 
(her “ girls,” as she always called them), who 
remained with her to the close. Qualified in 
every way for their respective spheres, and, 
through their very diversities of temperament 
and training, adapted to one another, they 
came in the course of time to alleviate some- 
what the dreadful void created by her deso- 
lating bereavements. For once this relation 
rose to the dignity and purity of a genuine 
attachment. The mercenary element was 
thoroughly eliminated. It is saying but a 
little to assert that their affection for her ex- 
ceeded that which binds together the mem- 
bers of many well-ordered families. Their 
love was strong and abiding. They minis- 
tered to her comfort with an assiduity and a 
tenderness which knew no intermission. Her 
sicknesses and trials weighed upon them as 
their own. They framed no plans, they 
claimed no “ privileges,’ they had no aspira- 
tions, apart from her interest and happiness. 


And she reciprocated their devotion. She re- 


24 HARRIZL LT TOLLOND: 


posed unlimited confidence in their integrity 
and honor, their discretion and vigilance. 
She was as mindful of their health as they of 
hers. She bestowed her kindnesses upon 
them with a wise profusion, which was never 
abused. Witha grateful heart she recognized 
the goodness of God in surrounding her with 
a group of helpers who could thus relieve her 
from the usual burdens of housekeeping, and 
upon whose fidelity and affection she could 
rely without a shadow of distrust. It was, for 
these untoward times, a spectacle as refreshing 
as it was unusual. In calling one day to ask 
her excellent physician, Dr. Caspar Morris, 
if he would stop and see one of them who was 
sick, I alluded to the peculiar tie which united 
Miss HoLtonp and her three “ girls,” as one 
of the compensations of Providence; and 
added, “It would be difficult to find a parallel 
case in our city.” “I do not believe (was his 
quick reply) there is a parallel case in the 
world.” 

Having mentioned Dr. Morris, I cannot 
refrain from adding that ¢/zs tie also was all 


LN MEMORIAM. 25 


that could have been desired. As her medical 
adviser, her confidence in his skill was so great 
that he could not have wished it greater; and 
to this was superadded the veneration and 
affection (mutual, I am sure) of a generous 
Christian friendship. She always enjoyed his 
visits. I feel quite certain that he rarely if 
ever left her room that he had not ministered 
to her bodily comfort,—never once that she 
had not been solaced and cheered by his cor- 
dial sympathy and pleasant converse about 
the things which were nearest her heart and 


his own. 


V. 


I HAVE alluded to the sentiment of recipro- 


cal gratitude which pervaded Miss HoLionp’s 


26 HARRIET HOLLOND. 


household. Generosity and gratitude are twin 
virtues. She formed no exception to the set- 
tled rule, that the most generous natures are 
the most sensitive to kindnesses. Gratitude 
is no exclusively Christian grace ; and ingrati- 
tude is no monopoly of unchristian people. 
My own experience is doubtless the common 
experience of pastors. In the instances in 
which I have encountered ingratitude in any 
marked degree, it has usually come from indi- 
viduals or families who were brought into the 
Church through God’s blessing upon my un- 
worthy ministrations, or from those whom I 
have visited, and prayed with, and wept with, 
in many a scene of sickness, death, and sor- 
row. Why should a pastor complain of this ? 
It happens with men of other callings ; why 
should the ministers of religion be exempt ? 
Nay, ingratitude was by pre-eminence, and is 
still, the allotment of their Master. And it is 
“enough that the disciple be as his Master,. 
and the servant as his Lord.” Thanks to His 
abounding grace, they share with Him no less 
in the opposite experience. "If the” aime 


LN MEMORIAM. 27 


lepers who returned not, stood for a class of 
His beneficiaries, the grateful Samaritan repre- 
sented another class, the honorable succession 
of which has been unbroken to our day. 
Within the fold of Christ there is no lack of 
disciples who are quick to appreciate and ac- 
knowledge favors from whatever quarter they 
come. But some are conspicuous in this 
regard; and Miss HoLtonp was one of these. 
Ever alive to the well-being of others, and as 
covetous of occasions for making somebody 
happier (the only type of covetousness known 
to her) as most persons are of procuring bene- 
fits to themselves, it seemed to be a sort of sur- 
prise to her when any one essayed to share 
one of her burdens, or to remove a pebble out 
of her path. The most trivial offices of this 
sort she viewed as through a powerful micro- 
scope. I have known her dilate upon the 
friendly solicitude for her health expressed by 
some wayfarer on the street—upon an un- 
expected visit of courtesy or sympathy—upon 
a bunch of flowers—upon the gift of a photo- 


graph—upon a piece of simple work from a 


28 HARRIET HOLLOND. 


child—as though she had been made the 
recipient of some great and unmerited favor. 
It was impossible to say or to do anything 
for her comfort or pleasure that it did not 
make an impression upon her, and bring 
(sometimes after the actor had forgotten all 
about it) its due recognition. For her noble 
nature responded to the most evanescent 
ministries of kindness as surely and as sweetly 
as the A£olian harp to the softest breeze. 

The mild and engaging qualities to which 
reference has been made, not unfrequently 
(in their secondary order) have their rooting 
in a superficial soil. The Italians have a 
proverb—“ A man may be so good that he is 
_good for nothing.” It points to a style of 
character with which we are all familiar— 
amiable, affectionate, blameless, but impassive 
and weak. No such deficiency attached to 
the character of Miss Hoxtonp. On that 
side of her nature she was all, and more than 
all, that has been recorded in these pages. 
And those who met her only in the casual 


intercourse of society, might suppose that 


LN MEMORIAM. 29 


they had taken her full measurement in as- 
cribing to her an ample dowry of all the 
milder graces. One of her dearest friends 
alludes to this very topic in a letter addressed 
to me shortly after her decease. I may be 
allowed to quote a previous sentence, be- 
cause it bears such emphatic testimony to 
another admirable trait,—her inflexible fidel- 
ity to the sacred trusts of friendship. ‘“ She 
was an iron safe for the fullest confidence: 
the secrets of one who trusted her were never 
in the remotest manner hinted at nor alluded 
to, to any other, even if closer and dearer to 
Pemieatt... “she had no great facility in 
putting the inside out, in showing her real 
and whole self. Her humility and modesty 
were in the way of this; so that few knew her 
as I did, none as you did.” Really to know 
her, was to detect under that tranquil guise 
a mind well stored with various information, 
the fruit of careful observation, patient 


thought, and habits of reading,* continued 





* A chronic weakness of one eye forbade her a free use 


30 HARRIET: HOLLONG, 


through life. Nor this alone. It was a mind 
well poised. She had as much of that 
homely, Saxon quality we call common 
sense, next to piety the most valuable of 
all endowments, as often falls to the lot of 
man or woman. She illustrated the accuracy 
and facility of those intuitive judgments by 
which her sex are able to discern at a glance, 
conclusions which we reach only by a careful 
process of reasoning. These gifts, in connec- 
tion with her perfect candor, her prudence, 
her kindness, and her fidelity to every tie of 
confidence, made her one of the wisest and 
best of counsellors. I account it as one of 
my chief advantages, that I have had at hand 
for so many years, a friend so ready and 
so competent to advise with me on matters 
of public and private duty. Of course we 


did not always agree. Peoplé who are in 





of books. But this was in good part compensated by the 
kind offices of one of her dearest friends, who, for several 
years, spent three afternoons and evenings of each week 


with her,—much of the time being devoted to reading. 


IN MEMORIAM. 31 


the habit of thinking for themselves and 
forming their own opinions, must sometimes 
differ. But rarely has a pastor found within 
his fold a counsellor so eraced with all the 
qualities which pastors, beyond almost any 
other class of men, crave and require in a 
Christian friend. Nor was her practical wis- 
dom displayed in this relation only. Not to 
speak of the various Societies which invoked 
the aid as well of her experience as of her 
purse, her philanthropic life brought her in 
contact with very many persons perplexed 
with questions of daily duty. She was never 
long in comprehending their exact circum- 
stances, and they were tolerably sure of re- 
ceiving advice which it would be safe to 


follow. 


32 HARRIET HOLLOND,; 


Vals 


Bur we must pass beyond her home and 
the circle of her private friendships. This 
quiet, unassuming Christian lady filled a 
broad sphere in the Church, and filled it to its 
outmost limits. On the illness (and subse- 
quent death) of her attached friend, Mrs. 
ELLEN W. Jones, her fellow-teachers turned 
at once to her as the proper Superintendent 
for our Female Sabbath-school. She resisted 
the appointment. It was repugnant to all 
her tastes and habits, to be placed in so con- 
spicuous a position. When the indications 
became so decisive as to preclude further 
scruple, she accepted the situation. It cost 
her many a struggle; and she acquiesced in 
the arrangement precisely as she submitted 
to any other Providential trial, for as such 
she regarded it. From that period (1855) on- 


IN MEMORIAM. 33 


ward, there was not a single recurrence of 
the annual election of officers, that the same 
conflict was not renewed in her breast. 
Where all eyes but her own saw every en- 
dowment which could adorn the position, 
her “conscious unfitness” made her shrink 
from it with a sensitiveness that knew no 
abatement. Often has she said to me on 
these occasions—“I have not one qualifica- 
tion for the Superintendency of that school.” 
Had she not been constantly re-appointed by 
the unanimous and urgent voice of her asso- 
ciates, she would have declined it. But it 
was the rule of her life to sacrifice private feel- _ 
ings to duty; and she patiently bore the bur- 
den that was laid upon her. 

How well she bore it, will be attested by 
all her co-workers. Averse as she was to 
the office, she gave herself to its requirements 
with a fidelity and assiduity which could 
not well have been exceeded. No pastor is 
more mindful of his flock, than she was of 
that school. Her method of conducting it 


was eminently characteristic. Nothing but 


2 
a 


34 HARRIET HOLLOND. 


sickness or absence from the city could keep 
her from her post. Always punctual in her 
attendance, familiar with the details of every 
class, knowing even every scholar by name, 
she recognized at a glance the exigencies of 
each session occasioned by absence and other 
causes, and with a happy facility provided for 
them. Genuine courtesy inspired her inter- 
course both with teachers and scholars. Her 
very presence carried with it a serene at- 
mosphere. Watchful she was, and efficient 
in the administration of her trust; but it was 
a potent mechanism that wrought without jar 
or friction. She moved about the room, 
going from form to form, distributing papers, 
gathering the statistics of the day, inquiring 
for absentees, or re-adjusting classes, as noise- 
lessly as the breath of Spring steals through 
a bed of flowers. I suppose that during the 
fifteen years of her Superintendency, that 
gentle voice was never once heard across the 
room. 

The last ten of these years were dedicated 


to the school under circumstances which 


IN MEMORIAM. 35 


most persons would have regarded as a suffi- 
cient reason for declining active service 
whether of this kind or any other. In the 
fall of 1859, soon after our return from New- 
port, where she had spent some twenty sum- 
mers with us, she was suddenly attacked 
with a most alarming illness. It revealed an 
organic disease of the heart, of the existence 
of which no one had any suspicion. As- 
suming the form of congestion of the lungs, 
it prevailed with such violence that for forty- 
eight hours life and death seemed trembling 
in the uncertain balance. Nothing was omit- 
ted which the best medical skill and the most 
affectionate nursing* could do, to avert a fatal 
result. And by the mercy of God, she was 
brought back as from the verge of the grave. 
It was, however, to be an invalid for the rest 


* Her own house was undergoing repairs. She was the 
guest for the time of the late Mr. ROBERT EWING and his 
wife, of whose kind attentions she ever retained a most 
grateful recollection. Mr. Ewing was her mother’s half- 
brother—a gentleman held in universal and merited esteem 


in the best financial and social circles of our city. 


36 HARRIET HOLLOND, 


of her days, and to suffer numerous attacks 
from her insidious malady. Yet even in this 
situation, she spared herself no labor which 
might contribute to the well-being of the 
Sunday-school. She kept her eye upon every 
scholar. Most of them she was in the habit 
of looking after in person. If they were sick, 
she was certain to visit them. Unable for 
some years before her death to walk even the 
length of a square, her carriage was often 
seen standing in front of the lowly houses of 
the poor—and freighted with welcome con- 
diments for the suffering inmates. 

Nor this alone. Her purse was no less 
open to the school. For many years, in the 
schools of the Tenth Church as in some 
others, Bibles and Testaments have been 
given as rewards for the thorough learning of 
the Catechisms. Several hundred of these 
must have been presented—costly copies, 
too. To this day it has never been an- 
nounced where they came from. And there 
are probably teachers, as there must be scores 


of scholars, who suppose that they were sup- 


N MEMORIAM. 37 


plied from the common treasury of the 
schools, instead of being her personal gift. 

In common with most intelligent Chris- 
tians who have seen forty or fifty years, she 
deplored the prevailing tendency to dis- 
parage and neglect the committing of the 
Scriptures to memory. By way of counter- 
acting it, she offered a selection of various 
works intrinsically valuable and in attractive 
bindings, as premiums to such scholars as 
should recite accurately certain prescribed 
chapters of God’s Holy Word. ‘The tender 
was not to those who might compass the 
largest task; for the vicious principle of com- 
petition she discarded: but to all who should 
master the designated chapters—say twelve 
in all, from as many different Books of the 
Old and New Testaments, and: comprising 
about two hundred and fifty verses. For 
three successive years, a Sunday-morning 
session in the month of April has been de- 
voted to this ceremonial; and very beautiful 
the spectacle has been. Some thirty or more 


of these dear young persons have gathered 


38 HARRIET HOLLOND. 


around the desk, to hear a few simple words 
of congratulation, and to receive the welcome 
volumes at the Pastor's hand. How much 
the generous author of this service rejoiced 
in it, and with what silent thankfulness to 
God, we may well imagine. But no stranger 
could have divined that she had had any special 
agency in the matter. Dropping into some 
inconspicuous seat among scholars or visitors 
indifferently, her chief solicitude appeared to 
be to enjoy the scene without being noticed. 
The very inscriptions in the books, defining 
the object of the presentation, contained no 
reference to her. Unmoved by my cogent 
remonstrances, she persistently forbade the 
mention of her name in these inscriptions ; 
and more than once chided me for vaguely 
alluding to her in my little addresses to the 
children. This was part of her very being— 
this instinctive shrinking from observation. 
I am sure she must have had an intense fel- 
low-feeling with that poor woman who, with 
a trembling hand, touched the hem of the 
Saviour’s garment. We shall see more of 


this as we proceed. 


IN MEMORIAM. 39 


VII. 


Tue Tenth Presbyterian Church has, from 
its foundation in 1820, been rich in its female 
membership. I have never known a congre- 
gation more blest in this respect. Their 
record may be photographed in three words, 
—efficient without oficiousness. Think of a 
large congregation going on prosperously for 
forty years without developing or enlisting 
a single “busy-body,” the bane of so many 
societies, religious and secular. This noble 
band of Christian ladies, without neglecting 
other forms of benevolent action, have for 
many years given their special attention to 
the preparation of boxes of clothing for the 
families of faithful Missionaries. A few figures 
will show that they have secured to the con- 
gregation they represent, an honorable pre- 


eminence among our three thousand churches 


4O HARRIET HOLLOND: 


in this interesting department of philanthropic 
effort. From 1850 to 1870 the number of 
boxes prepared and despatched by them has 
been 220, comprising an aggregate of 55,800 
different articles, and estimated, on a low 
valuation, at $47,000. To this work Miss 
HOLLOND gave her warmest sympathies, her 
unwearied care, and her munificent benefac- 
tions. When her house was enlarged and 
renovated, eleven years ago, she had two ca- 
pacious closets constructed for this specific 
purpose,—one of them, lined with cedar, being ° 
always known as the “ Missionary closet.” To 
these depositories the whole Winter’s work of 
the congregation found its way. The ladies 
associated with her were glad to appropriate 
‘their time and money and industry to a cause 
so near their hearts; while, on her part, she 
was constantly purchasing goods, arranging 
the work, and helping forward their plans in 
every practicable way. She was not the of- 
ficial Head of the Society. It had no such 
Head. No one cared to be “ Président} and 


she would not consent to be. She was the 


IN MEMORIAM. Al 


Treasurer—a Treasurer who, after expending 
the inadequate contributions received from the 
congregation, uniformly supplied all deficien- 
cies from her own purse. It was noticed by 
the Managers that the Treasurer's Annual 
Report always balanced to a farthing—a very 
unusual result, which seemed to have its key 
in a large item credited anonymously as “ Do- 


b] 


nations.’ believe no auditing committee ever 
felt called upon to investigate this mysterious 
entry; and it is certain the Treasurer volun- 
teered no explanation. 

By the close of April each year, the accu- 
mulation of clothing, household goods, books, 
medicines, toys, and notions, quite tested the 
capacity of those spacious closets. From 
numerous applications, the families of ten 
ministers of the Gospel were selected with 
much deliberation. On the appointed day, 
the entire assortment of goods was carried 
to the school-room of the church, giving 
it the appearance for the time of a great 
clothing warehouse. The members of the 


Society, with many visitors, gathered in 


42 HARRIET HOLLOND: 


force, and a few hours of hard but cheering 
work saw the boxes packed and marked 
and sent off to the Steamers "ang 
roads. . Miss Hottonp was there early and 
late on these Anniversaries; and while every 
one (strangers not excepted) was exhilarated 
by the spectacle, it is safe to presume that 
there was a tide of quiet, grateful joy flowing 
through that generous bosom to which no 
words could have given expression. It was 
to her what the joy of the harvest is to the 
reaper. And this pleasure increased in vol- 
ume as the return letters reached her—letters 
from these men of God, describing the recep- 
tion of the boxes, dilating upon the unex- 
pected variety and amplitude of the supplies, 
and affluent in thanksgivings to God and bene- 


dictions upon the donors. 


IN MEMORIAM. 43 


ELT: 


Her benevolent sympathies demanded yet 
wider scope. Among many characteristic 
passages marked in her Bible, is the opening 
of the 41st Psalm: ‘‘ Blessed is he that con- 
sidereth the poor.” How well she “consid- 
ered the poor,” will not be fully revealed until 
the myriads of the ransomed shall hear her 
Saviour say to her, and others like her, “ In- 
asmuch as ye have done it unto one of the 
least of these my brethren, ye have done it 
unto me.” But we have had some light on 
this point, and are now to have more. 

In the winter of 1857-8, one of the Elders 
of my church (I could wish that all our 
churches had Elders run in the same mould), 
inviting the aid of two or three of his 


brethren, commenced a meeting for social 


44 HARRIET HOLLOND: 


prayer. Neighbors were attracted to the 
place. Encouraging indications appeared. 
At the end of two years (March, 1860), under 
Miss HoLbonp’s auspices, a suitable house 
in South Juniper Street was rented, and 
a lady of my church, admirably qualified 
for the task, was employed to superintend 
operations. Having tested the plan for a 
year or two, Miss Hottonp purchased the 
premises, made needful alterations, pro- 
vided suitable furnishings of all kinds, and 
appropriated the whole to this truly phi- 
lanthropic object. Such was the origin of 
her “ JUNIPER STREET Mission.” Like every- 
thing with which she had to do, it was 
undertaken and prosecuted without trumpets 
or cymbals. So far from this indeed, that 
it is doubtful whether one-half the members 
of my own church have to this day heard of 
the existence of this noble charity. I never 
knew her to speak of it in the ordinary inter- 
course of society. She rarely alluded to it 
even in the presence of those who might be 


ranked among her intimate friends. Yet this 


IN MEMORIAM. 45 


Mission was daily if not hourly upon her 
mind. Its indispensable claims made large 
draughts upon her time and means. She 
watched its progress with a grateful heart; 
and gathered strength and refreshment from 
her personal visits to a field where others 
“were doing so much good.” 

The general plan of the Mission is this. 
The lady in charge has for ten years devoted 
her whole time to this work—a_ genuine 
“Missionary” of the best type—a welcome 
visitor in scores of humble houses. On cer- 
tain evenings, weekly, there are gathered 
around her a company of deserving women 
who meet to receive religious instruction and 
to sew. They number from sixty to seventy ; 
a few of them, aged widows, but mostly 
wives and mothers attended by their older 
daughters. They are arranged in two sec- 
tions, each having its own evening. The 
germinal idea carried out in the system, is, 
that women who are toiling at home and bur- 
dened with household cares, should have 


occupation that will, for the time, take them 


46 HARRIZAT HOLLOML, 


out of themselves, and turn their sympathies 
into fresh channels. Their evenings at the 
Mission, therefore, have been given to other 
families. In connection with a brief Scripture 
lesson and devotional service, while listening 
to the reading of some suitable book or direct 
oral teaching, their busy needles are plied in 
making up clothing for the Missionaries. 
The ample stock of materials demanded by 
this formidable corps of workers was sup- 
plied by Miss Hottonp—the same materials 
for quality and cost, with those purchased by 
the Dorcas Society of the church. While 
they gave their time and labor’to the cause 
of benevolence, she could not allow them to 
be losers by it. So a number of them were 
engaged statedly, with other needle-women, 
to make up her “ Missionary work,” both for 
the “Church-boxes” and her own. Few 
ladies in our city keep so many seamstresses 
busy, or remunerate them so well. 

Beside these exercises, the Superintendent 
has a “ Sewing-class” for the young on Satur- 


day afternoons. The sixty or seventy children | 


IN MEMORIAM. 47 


of this class not only “sew for the Mission- 
aries,” but cheerfully contribute their pennies 
to buy “Libraries for the Missionary chil- 
dren.” On Sunday afternoon at two o'clock, 
she has an adult Bible-class. On Sabbath 
evening the parlor has always been given up 
to a religious service, conducted by that inde- 
fatigable and self-denying friend of the enter- 
prise, the Elder already mentioned, and a few 
excellent brethren who “have a mind to the 
work.” This service brings together many 
of the husbands, sons, and brothers, of the 
members of the Mission; and these have 
shared in the rich blessing with which God 
has crowned it. 

Such in brief is the simple mechanism 
which has been in operation in connection 
with the “ JUNIPER STREET Mission,” for the 
past decade. Its ultimate fruits will not be 
disclosed until the last day. But there are 
some statistics which it may be worth while 
to put on record. The average number of 
“members” attached to the Mission during 


this period, has been sixty-seven. Average 


48 HARRIET HOLLOND. ~ 


attendance upon the Bible-class, twenty- 
eight. Average number of children at the 
Saturday class, forty-five. The untiring 
energy and conscientious fidelity of the 
Superintendent, are illustrated in a journal 
of about 6500 visits “from house to house,” 
in addition to her manifold labors at “the 
rooms.” Through the Divine mercy, thirty- 
nine of those in attendance upon the services, 
have been gathered into the Church; while 
thirty-four boxes of clothing, worth at least 
eight thousand dollars, have been made up 
and sent to the Missionaries. 

Let me add, that in writing the letters 
which accompanied these boxes, it was 
simply stated that they were sent “from a 
Home Mission conducted by a few Ladies of 
the Tenth Presbyterian Church.” In no in- 
stance was I permitted to mention Miss 
HOLLOND’s name. Often have I seen her 
exult, on reading the grateful letters of the 
recipients, that she had succeeded so well in 
keeping herself out of sight in these trans- 


actions. 


IN MEMORIAM. 49 


The results of the Mission, as indicated by 
the foregoing figures, are of no trivial magni- 
tude. But how imperfectly do figures and 
words define the fruits of such an agency! 
Who can grasp the ameliorating influence, 
so manifold in its types and tendencies, which 
has all the while been flowing along the wires 
that have linked this Mission with its various 
households? It has armed them against 
temptation, reconciled them to _ privations, 
sweetened their toil, solaced their sorrows, 
augmented their pleasures, and helped to 
make life a very different thing to them 
from what it was ten years ago. Under any 
circumstances such an Institution must be 
fraught with untold good to its beneficiaries. 
With its actual surroundings in this case, it 
could only be compared to a spring of living 
water in the desert. 

Who could envy that dear child of God 
the happiness she reaped from this secluded 
but ever-verdant plantation? Her full har- 
vest is still future. The sheaves must be 
coming into the heavenly garners, now that 

4 


50 HARRIET HOLLONE, 


she is before the Throne,—and they will 
continue to come in until seed-time and 
harvest’ have run their round) @Bupeene 
began to reap while she was sowing. It 
was impossible, even with her deep humility, 
to shut her eyes to the benign effects of the 
Mission. These, it is true, she was predis- 
posed to ascribe mainly to the two or three 
friends who were actually doing the work. 
But there was no disguising the fact, that 
it was her bounty that founded and sustained 
the Institution, and her enlightened judg- 
ment that shaped its policy; while it was 
to her, under Providence, her co-laborers 
were indebted for the means and the oppor- 
tunity of pursuing their philanthropic voca- 
tion. Most gratefully did they and all con- 
nected with them, appreciate her kindness, 
Very pleasant it was to note the nameless 
ways in which this feeling on their part, and 
her tender regard for them, would gleam 
out whenever she appeared among them. Of 
one of these occasions, I must speak more 


definitely. 


LN MEMORIAM. 5% 


IX. 


THe Christmas Holidays found meet ob- 
servance at the Mission. It was always 
arranged that clothing and bedding and 
toys should be finished and prepared for 
one or two boxes, just at this period. These 
were displayed in one of the upper rooms. 
.On the evening of the “ Festival,” the beloved 
Founder and Patron of the Institution came 
there to interchange cordial greetings with 
its members. Unless detained by sickness, 
there were no absentees. A brief religious 
service opened the exercises—a hymn of 
praise, a prayer, and a short address—all 
taking their complexion from the cheerful 
aspect of the densely-crowded rooms, hung 
round with the fruits of their willing industry. 

This concluded, we repaired to the parlor. 
Tasteful hands had decorated it with pine 


52 HARRIET HOLLOND: 


~ 


and holly. A spacious table, beautifully em- 
bellished, was loaded with delicious viands 
—substantial relishes, the choicest cakes and 
ices, fresh fruits—precisely such a table and 
supplied from the same caterers, as she was 
accustomed to spread for her own friends at 
home. The scene that presented itself when 
the guests, arrayed in their best attire and 
every face beaming with delight, were all 
seated at the hospitable board and addressing 
themselves to the “duty of the hour,” was 
enough to thrill the heart even of a devotee 
of fashionable pleasure, and make her question 
whether, after all, money might not be turned 
to some higher account than that of spend- 
ing it upon a round of frivolous amusements. 
But there were no such spectators there— 
and scarcely any others. There was no space 
for visitors. Miss HOoLLoND always invited a 
few friends, chiefly young ladies, to “serve the 
tables.’ She herself uniformly took the lead 
in ‘waiting,’ and they were only too glad to 
assist her. It was one of her pleasures to go 


around the room, and pass the refreshments 


LN MEMORIAM. a 


to her guests with her own hand, addressing 
a word or two to each by name, and putting 
up special parcels for their invalids at home. 
Indeed, “parcels” were in profusion. For 
when all had eaten and were full, there were 
“fragments” enough remaining to send every 
one away with a basket (or bag) filled to re- 
pletion—The first set having retired, the 
tables were speedily cleared and re-spread 
exactly as before; and the same programme 
was enacted with a second company. By 
ten o’clock they had all gone—a bright and 
grateful throng, with one more happy even- 
ing to chronicle in the monotonous routine 
of the year. 

Of course the children were remembered. 
On one of the Holiday-afternoons they were 
punctually assembled at the Mission, not less 
than seventy of them, to enjoy a Festival of 
their own. It consisted, after a suitable pre- 
lude, of three courses: first, refreshments 
various and abundant: secondly, books: and 
thirdly, a Christmas-tree bearing all manner 


of gifts, each inscribed with its proper label. 


e 


54 HARRIET FICLLOND. 


These it was the prerogative of their Bene- 
factress to present in person. And as the little 
creatures gathered around her, the facility 
with which she addressed them by name, 
showed that she was no stranger among 
them. 

Thus closed the Juniper Street Festivals. 
There are many happy homes in our city 
during the holidays: but it would have been 
difficult to find one which contained such a 
volume of happiness as was compressed for 
those two days, year by year, into that hum- 
ble mansion. And if giving be still better 
than receiving, there was one bosom which 
might well be filled with a joy as deep and 
pure as any pilgrim may presume to hope for 
this side of heaven. The genial scenes we 
have been contemplating, derived their in- 
spiration from the Master’s own teaching in 
Luke xiv. 12-14. She understood it well. I 
do not doubt she would have done just what 
she did, had the gracious utterance closed 
with the sentence—“ they cannot recompense 


thee.” It was not “recompense” she sought: 


LN MEMORIAM. 55 


rather did she find all the reward she craved, 
in the ministration itself. All the more, for 
this very reason, will the promise be verified 
to her in its fulness—‘“ Thou shalt be recom- 
pensed at the resurrection of the just.” Of 
every debt of this kind incurred by His fol- 
lowers, the Saviour says to the creditor, “ Put 
that on mine account: I have written it with 
mine own hand, I will repay it.” Is it not 
marvellous that His people are so slow to 
believe this? How, otherwise, can the fact 
be explained, that while there are many thou- 
sands of the wealthy who sit down at His 
table, so few of them know the luxury of 
spreading a table for His poor brethren and 
sisters? Will it suffice at the last day to 
plead that they sazd to them, “ Be ye warmed 
and filled?” And do those who are trusting 
to this, remember the “ Inasmuch, in. -the 
25th chapter of Matthew ? 


56 HARRIET HOLLOND. 


X. 


MERE generosity in money matters, does 
not necessarily infer the highest moral ex- 
cellence. Giving, as a Christian grace, is 
secondary to some other graces. Miss Hot- 
LOND thought very lightly of it in her own 
case. Repeatedly has she said to me—“ Why 
do you commend me so much for giving 
away my money? I am simply consulting 
my own happiness. I take far more pleasure 
in giving it away, than I should in keeping 
it.’ Had this been an isolated habit, a single 
rose upon the stem, there might have been 
force in the plea. But the stem was covered 
with roses. There was not only giving but 
doing. She not only sent but went. “To 
her power I bear record, yea, and beyond 
her power,” she ext about doing good. 


While laboring under a valvular affection of 


IN MEMORIAM. 57 


the heart, which exposed her to sudden and 
dangerous illness at any moment of her life, 
she sought no dispensation from active ser- 
vice.* Though not able to walk, she could 
ride, upon her errands of mercy. And into 
whatever she did or said on behalf of the 
Master’s cause, there was infused that sweet 
and gracious spirit which impresses a double 
value upon offices of kindness. Her liber- 
ality, then, had its setting in a cluster of 
choice jewels, which enhanced its intrinsic 
lustre. That it was a gem, after its kind, of 
the first water, cannot be disputed. 

As she “sought her own happiness” in 
giving away her income, so she gave it aH 
away. She would have deemed it morally 
wrong to put by a single fraction for accumu- 
lation. I have often known her to carry her 
benefactions so far that, for the time being, 
she would not have money left for her 


household expenses ;—and we have had our 





* Within doors she found great relief from the use of a 
very complete and costly e/evator which she introduced into 


her house some years ago. ' 


58 HARRIET HOLLOND. 


pleasantry together over her impoverished 
condition. While she was specially inter- 
ested in the “ Missionary work,” as already 
described, she was a stated contributor—one 
of the largest contributors in our city—to the 
several “ Boards” of the Church, and the other 
objects which make their annual appeals to 
our congregations. No collection could be 
taken up amongst us, without betraying her 
hand. She was a subscriber to most of the 
benevolent societies and institutions carried on 
by the Christian ladies of our city. And it 
was a well-worn path which conducted to her 
door, the representatives and agents of all 
manner of religious, charitable, and literary 
associations, who flock to the great towns for 
pecuniary assistance. 

Now and then some cause would present 
itself, which took hold upon her sympathies 
with signal power. Of this class may be 
named that infant and excellent Institution, 
the “ Home for Blind Women,’ in West Phila- 
delphia. And, still more, the ‘“ Woman’s Union 
Missionary Society of America for Heathen 


IN MEMORTA WM. 59 


Lands.’ To this Society she had been a sub- 
scriber for several years. But it had never 
been adequately brought before our Chris- 
tian people, until Miss Britran’s recent 
visit. This admirable woman, endowed with 
every gift and grace which could qualify her 
for her work, after nine years of laborious 
Service in Calcutta and other Indian cities, 
was compelled to return home in quest of 
health. To herself and her associates it was 
a dark Providence. But He who does all 
things well, soon turned their sorrow into 
joy. After needful repose, Miss Brirran de- 
voted the residue of her furlough to an active 
agency in behalf of the Society. She travelled 
extensively, visited many of the principal 
cities, addressed Sunday-schools and Lecture- 
room assemblages, and had daily parlor con- 
ferences with Christian ladies. The most 
indefatigable of workers, she was at the same 
time clothed with a mantle of exquisite re- 
finement and delicacy. Her addresses were 
so marked with genuine womanly grace and 


modesty, that the most fastidious hearers of 


60 HARRIET HOLLOND, 


both sexes listened to her with undissembled : 
delight. 


““Her voice was ever solt, 


Gentle and low, an excellent thing in woman :” 


and with such effect did she use it in de- 
picting the incredible wrongs of the High 
Caste females of India—in relating what she 
herself had seen and known”* of that prison- 
life to which they are a consigned—that the 
most cultivated audiences were impressed 
and affected beyond anything I have ever 
witnessed at “ Missionary meetings.” This 
may be readily tested by the results. Not 
only were scores—probably hundreds—of 
new ‘“ Bands” formed as auxiliaries to the 
parent Society, but the influence of these ser- 
vices must be more or less recognized in the 
fact that several of the Christian denomina- 
tions have, during the past summer, organized 
(or enlarged) Zenxana Societies of their own, 


under the sanction. of their supreme eccle- 





* See her little volume called ** KARDOO.”’ 


IN MEMORIAM. 61 


siastical authorities. Miss Britran has just 
returned to Calcutta with a corps of fresh 
laborers, happy and grateful in the assurance 
that her two years of “sick-leave” have, by 
God’s blessing, done more for her oppressed 
““Hindoo Ladies,” than she could have ac- 
complished for them by twenty years of toil 
in going from Zenana to Zenana. 

It was not possible that Miss HoLtonp 
should meet Miss BrirTan, as she did, in 
private, and listen to her at social and public 
meetings, without becoming deeply interested. 
woener as indeed to all of us, the miseries 
revealed by the opening of the sealed doors 
of the Zenanas, were as new, as startling, and 
as revolting, as were the horrible secrets dis- 
closed to statesmen and philanthropists when 
John Howard threw open to them the prison- 
world of Europe. She took instant measures 
for organizing auxiliaries in our own school, 
a service in which she had the prompt and 
hearty co-operation of all the teachers and 
scholars. She provided for a wide circula- 


tion of the “ Missionary Link,” the organ of 


62 HARRIET HOLLOND. 


the Society. She made generous donations 
to its Treasury. And sitting down soon after 
(we may now add) fo the solemn, religious 
act of writing her Will, she left the Society 
a munificent legacy, to be applied to the sup- 


port of a Zenana teacher and kindred objects. 


XI. 


But even offices of this kind are quite in- 
adequate to exhibit the real grace and charm 
of her benevolence. She gave where others 
gave, and more than most others. But the 
measure and methods of her bounty took 
on no stereotype forms. It percolated or 
poured itself, as might be, into very numerous 
channels, some of which it had entirely to 
itself, and all characteristic of the thoughtful 
kindness of her heart. While writing this 


IN MEMORIAM. 63 


very paragraph, the postman has brought me 
a letter of sympathy from one of her old, at- 
tached friends, living at the West, which says: 
“Her name is reverenced here not only in 
our family, but in our little church, which is 
indebted to her for several precious dona- 
tions of Library-books, a Communion service, 
and, for the last three years, fifty dollars an- 
nually towards our Pastor’s salary. Indeed, 
but for this subscription, we could not have 
kept our minister here, and I know not where 
we are now to look for help.” This case may 
be allowed to stand for many of its kind, and 
the zuds were many. 

How cordially she entered into the genial 
spirit of the Christmas Holidays, we have 
seen in part, and only in part. The Juniper 
Street Festivals were far from exhausting 
her bounty. She welcomed the season as 
one for remembering her /vends, and, with 
them, others far and near in whom, for 
whatever reason, she felt an interest. To my 
personal knowledge, the Christmas-gifts she 


sent out every year, some of them of great 


64 HARRIET HOLLOND. 


value, amounted to several scores. Where 
there are large family-circles, the numerical 
count may sometimes equal and even exceed 
this. But those are cases, usually, in which 
gifts are exchanged. Were, there were no 
ties of blood; and, with very few excep- 
tions, there was, and could be, no “ex. 
change.” The feet of the messenger sien 
from her house, not towards it. Nor was 
this one of those pools which an angel 
came down to trouble once a year. It was 
never still. Now she would fix her eye 
upon some youth of respectable but not 
wealthy parentage, and in a delicate way 
supply the funds for sending him to college 
or the Theological Seminary. Now she 
would educate some deserving young girl, and 
thus qualify her to support herself by teach- 
ing, or fit her, as has happened more than 
once, to fill an important and responsible 
position in society. Here, after sustaining an 
invalid for years, she would, on her recov- 
ery, present her with a piano that she might 


give music-lessons. There, she would send 


IN MEMORIAM. 65 


a monthly allowance to pay the rent of 
some suffering woman, or some too popu- 
lous household. Many a time has she said 
to me:—“I want youto help me. There’s a 
family so and so that really need assistance. 
I want to do something for them. How 
shall I go about it?” Hundreds of times 
have I gone to her on behalf of such cases, 
and cases of every kind in town and country, 
Momoreand >outh, far and near. She never 
refused me. She never gave reluctantly. 
She never gave less than I wanted. She has 
often pressed me to take more than I would 
consent to take. It was one of her pleasures, 
to “stretch out her hand to the poor; yea, 
to reach forth her hands to the needy.” And 
in this blessed ministration, while she cheered 
the gray hairs, she did not overlook the 
children. How often has she invited to a 
drive some child, a stranger in town, who 
would not be likely to see the environs in 
any other way! How often has she gone 
with her carriage to give some poor, sick 
Sunday-scholar, quite unused to that sort of 


5 


- 


65 HARRIET HOLLOCNG: 


equipage, a breath of fresh air! And the 
zest with which she would rehearse to me 
the surprises and the delight of her little pas- 
sengers, and the incidents of the drive, never 
failed to invest her noble nature, as I listened 
to her, with an air of still higher grace and 
beauty. I could not repress. the feeling— 
“Surely if the mind which was in Christ, the 
spirit that reigns among the ransomed in 
glory—-be anywhere on earth, it must be 


here.” 


oles 


I am tempted just here to dilate upon the 
ineffable value of such a friend to a Pastor, in 
his official work. Whole sheaves of appeals 
for aid come to us, which we are at a loss how 
to deal with. To spread before our people a 
fourth part even of those which are really 


meritorious, is simply impossible. What a 


IN MEMORIAM. 67 


privilege it is to have some one at hand to 
whom we can take all cases of this sort with 
perfect freedom; one who is as ready to 
listen, as we to speak; and more ready to 
give, than we to ask! This has been one of 
the comforts of my pastoral life for more 
than thirty years. It has fallen to the lot of 
some of my brethren also. One of them ina 
neighboring city, a brother greatly beloved of 
God and man, my life-long friend, is blessed 
with the presence, in his ever-prosperous 
church, of a kindred spirit whose benefac- 
tions, large or small, he can ask as freely as 
he gives his own. Leaving out of account all 
the other elements which pertain to it, the 
price of such a woman in this relation alone 


) 


is “far above rubies;” or (with Solomon’s 


leave) diamonds either. But I pass this 
by. 

With reference to the considerate kindness 
which, as just related, inspired Miss Hot- 
LOND’S care for the well-being of many whom 
no one else would have thought of as needing 


aid, or being within reach of it, there can be 


68 HARRIET, FIOL LOG. 


no occasion for reverting to the privacy which 
veiled her benefactions. Beyond a question, 
there could have been no lack of these gen- 
erous offices which were concealed from 
every eye but God’s, Of the réstvanlance 
proportion were disclosed only to a single 
friend; and ~¢hat, sometimes because she 
wanted counsel, and sometimes because the 
agency of a third party was necessary to 
carry her plans into effect. If what she did 
in this regard ever came abroad, it was not of 
her connivance. She had learned the lesson 
well (of course it is marked in her Bible), 
‘Tet another praise thee and not thine own 
mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.” 
Knowing all I did of the secret as well as 
open streams of bounty which had _ their 
source, under God, in that benevolent breast, 
I have more than once been amused in watch- 
ing the effect produced upon her by some 
voluble disciple, who has seated himself by 
her side to regale her with a glowing narra- 
tive of his (or her) extraordinary achieve- 
ments and benefactions in the field of Chris- 


IN MEMORIAM. 69 


tian effort. It was the old story of Talkative 
and Christian over again. And the uniform 
result with her, was, to make her draw the 
folds of her humility and modesty, if possible, 
still more closely around her. 

These were the comely vestments in which 
she walked along the narrow path. No one 
ever saw her clad in any others. Large sup- 
plies of daily grace there must have been to 
keep down so thoroughly all self-complacency. 
For love, no less than hate, is a test of char- 
acter. And one who leads the life that she 
did, must needs be loved. She did not seek 
it: it came to her. And it came from every 
quarter. For she could go nowhere without 
displaying unconsciously the good sense, the 
refinement, the unselfishness, and the sym- 
pathy, which were part of her being. And 
these were qualities to win esteem even from 
strangers. In the church of which she was 
an ornament, and through a wide circle ex- 
tending much beyond it, the universal senti- 
ment with which she was regarded, was that 


of deep, reverential affection. Every one 


70 HARRIET *HOLLOAG 


revered her. Every one loved ieraaa iene: 
“was no one amongst us so much revered and 
loved. It was the spontaneous homage of all 
hearts to one who was clearly seen to have 
put aside the thought of self, and to be living 
for the good of others. Craving no distinc- 
tion, exacting no attention, courting seclu- 
sion rather, and having no solicitude nor aim 
beyond that of doing good in her own tran- 
quil way, she could not elude the inevitable 
law, “He that humbleth himself shall be 
exalted.” It has been my privilege to meet 
with a large number of Christian women, the 
lineal descendants of those mentioned in such 
passages as Luke viii. 3; Acts 1. 14; Mark 
xiv. 3, and xvi. 1. Affluent in the graces of 
the Spirit, and abounding in the fruits of 
righteousness, their rich adornment has been 
the signatures of the Divine friendship, and 
they have enjoyed the merited esteem and 
confidence of all who were associated with 
them. But aside from the rare symmetry of 
her character and the beautiful consistency of 


her example, there were two considerations 


IN MEMORTAM. aI 


which attempered the universal affection cher- 
ished for Miss HoLtonp, with a sort of ten- 
derness I have observed, to the same extent, 
in no other case. These were—frst, the recol- 
lection of that long series of bereavements 
which had blighted her home, and left her 
literally alone in the world: and, secondly, 
the precarious condition of her health as 
betrayed to the eye of every observer, by the 
extremely slow and cautious step with which 
she moved about in the Sunday-school room 
and elsewhere, and walked to and fro along the 
half-square that separated her house from the 
church—the longest distance she attempted 
for several years. Here was a visible token of 
the slender and brittle tie upon which that 
precious life was suspended. And the blend- 
ing of these two elements served to endear 
her more and more to all who knew her, 
down to the day that she was summoned 
home. But this wealth of sympathy and 
affection which flowed in upon her, instead 
of fostering pride, seemed rather to intensify 
the feeling of self-distrust and unworthiness 


which pervaded her whole character. 


42 HARRIET FiOL LOND, 


XIIL. 


Tue readers of this imperfect MEMORIAL 
will naturally wish to learn something more 
about the zzzer fe of one who bore so much 
of the Saviour’s image. It is a subject upon 
which my words must be few, and, if possi- 
ble, well chosen,—and that, for two reasons. 
Miss HoLtonp’s sensitiveness on this point 
was extreme. She had a series of manu- 
script volumes in which were recorded her 
private memoranda for a considerable term 
of years. Resolved that the sanctity of this 
journal should not be infringed, she gave both 
oral and written directions that these books 
should be burned immediately on her death. 
The order was obeyed. ' Her reticenceian 
speaking of her religious exercises, was such 
that to only a single friend (so I suppose) did 
she ever open her lips on the subject. With 


LIN MEMORIAM. ra 


him she conversed often and freely. That 
confidence must not be abused. 

The second reason is supplied by the gen- 
eral tenor of those conversations. It may be 
permitted me so far to refer to them, as to 
indicate the type of her religious experience. 
For it will comfort the host of “bruised 
reeds” in the church, to know that she was 


of them. Her sister FANNy had 


‘«Trod the same path to heaven.”’ 


Both were by nature of a pensive cast. Both 
were so filled with the spirit of the Publican, 
that they shrank from appropriating the 
Divine mercy. With both, their spiritual 
exercises borrowed a tinge of sadness from 
physical causes. To the younger sister there 
came a day of ransom, some three years be- 
fore her death. I cannot think that I shall 
wrong the memory of that dear saint, by 
allowing her own pen to record the auspicious 
event, and her characteristic mode of ac- 


knowledging the Divine goodness. In a note 


74 HARRIET HOLLOWS. 


addressed to me at the time (Dec. 1839), after 
alluding to those “whose natural disposition 
and abilities prevent them from engaging in 
plans of more active usefulness,” she says :— 
“With a grateful sense in lively exercise of 
the deliverance (for such I begin to believe it 
to be) which I have myself experienced within 
the last few months, you will not be surprised 
to hear that the condition of those who may 
be suffering, as I have been for years, from 
low and inadequate views of the character of 
our Saviour, is very near my heart; and that 
the circulation of a book on this subject, was 
the first that suggested itself as an appropriate 
object for my shank-offering. It would be 
exceedingly gratifying to me to select for this 
purpose something which, under God, has 
been blessed to my own soul.” She goes on 
to ask my consent to the stereotyping and 
publishing, in a small volume, of two ser- 
mons on Matt. xii. 20, “believing that such 
a book, accompanied with prayer for the Di- 
vine blessing, would redound to the honor 


and glory of our common Lord and Re- 


N MEMORIAM. 75 


deemer.” Carefully keeping herself in the 
background, she sets apart a generous sum 
(two hundred and fifty dollars) to carry the 
plan into effect. 

In quoting this narrative, | am conscious of 
no motive but a desire to illustrate the Chris- 
tian piety of this desponding, rejoicing disci- 
ple; and to magnify the grace which shone 
forth in her “deliverance.” To her precious 
sister it was allotted to wrestle for a much 


longer period 


** With sins, and doubts, and fears.’’ 


Although not kept for years in the same fiery 
furnace, she was no stranger to the spiritual 
conflicts through which fanny Lickersteth* 
made her way to glory. “Dear child!” said 
that most eloquent of English preachers, Dr. 
M‘Neile, after leaving the room of this suffer- 
ing saint; “there is a spectacle to men and 
angels carrying on upon that bed. I doubt 


not she is doing more for the glory of God, 





* « DOING AND SUFFERING.”’ 


76 HARRIET HOLLOND. 


than many of us in the fore-front of the 
battle.” I have looked more than once upon 
a kindred scene, and with a similar feeling. 
A prevailing hope there was, and of late years, 
ordinarily peace,—peace and hope nourished 
by no meagre appropriation of her daily 
hours to the word of God and the throne of 
grace. It was noticeable to her old friends, 
that she had attained what might be called a 
settled air of cheerfulness. Life was unques- 
tionably brighter and sweeter to her than it 
had -been, ~ But, there was still, below the 
surface, an undertone of plaintive feeling, a 
sadness, sometimes, which linked the present 
with the past. It was rarely that the Sun of 
Righteousness shone down upon her path 
from a sky absolutely cloudless. 

Have we any key to this mystery ?—for 
mystery it is. Something bearing upon the 
point has been suggested. The unerring Word 
teaches us that God often leaves a child of 
light to walk for awhile in darkness. (See 
Isaiah |. 10.) If we may judge from obser- 


vation, this is one of His usual methods where 


IN MEMORIAM. ny 


He would train His children for eminent use- 
fulness. It is in the bitter conflict with sin 
and temptation, they discover their own weak- 
nesses, learn more of the fulness and freeness 
of Divine grace, and gain new views of the 
patience and tenderness of the Redeemer. 
These supply fresh motives to gratitude and 
obedience, as they also help to qualify His 
people for functions which demand precisely 
such a tutelage. Every one perceives this in 
so far as the Church militant is concerned. 
But there are examples which have no ad- 
equate solution from anything we see in the 
present life; believers, upon whose intense 
and protracted spiritual sufferings, the outward 
course of God’s providence sheds very little 
light. Peradventure this thought may alle- 
viate the difficulty. Discipline is in order to 
service. Discipline ends with earth. Service 
never ends. May it not be—must it not be— 
that the painful discipline visited upon these 
humble, doubting, oppressed, souls, and contin- 
ued so long, is designed to train them for some 


glorious ministry on high? “ Visited upon 


78 HARRIET HOLLOW: 


them,” I say. For while we may not deny. 
that the misgivings of these timid disciples 
are largely traceable to unbelief; while it is 
clear that they ought to discard their “low and 
inadequate views of the Saviour,” to take God 
at His word, and appropriate the perfect lib- 
erty for which their hearts are yearning; it is 
no less true, that hope and peace and joy are 
the heritage of those only upon whom God 
bestows them. Like all other spiritual mer- 
cies, He bestows them in answer to prayer. 
Thus St. Paul intercedes on behalf of the 
Christians at Rome :—“ Now the God of hope 
fill you with all joy and peace in believing, 
that ye may abound in hope through the 
power of the Holy Ghost.” In general such 
prayers as this, no doubt, bring down the de- 
sired blessing. But with the annals of the 
Church before us, no one will venture to con- 
trovert the position, that our infinitely wise 
and condescending Father exercises His sov- 
ereignty as well in communicating these 
graces as in everything else, “dividing to 


each one severally as He will.” Nor is it 


LN MEMORIAM. 79 


less apparent that those humble, devout dis- 
ciples of whom we are speaking, while miss- 
ing the full measure of joy and peace attained 
Dyetmany believers, excel them, often, in a 
deeper experience of the evil of sin and of 
the craft of Satan, and in the sense they have 
of the matchless beauty and glory of the 
Saviour’s Person. . Is it a fond conceit that all 
this may be intended to fit them for some 
exalted service near His throne to which, for 
reasons beyond our grasp, the triumphant 
Great-Flearts of the Church would not be so 
well suited? However that may be, it is de- 
lightful to think of the unutterable joy with 
which these weary pilgrims will learn at 
length that they have right to the tree of 
life, and may enter in through the gates into 
the city, and see A/zs face whom, unseen, they 
loved; and with what loud acclaim they will 


sing,— 


‘«We tread His heaven our earth who trod; 
We wear His robes our flesh who wore: 
-O Son of Man! O Son of God! 


THOU art our own: we ask no more.”’ 


80 HARRIET HOLLOND. 


XIV. 


For one or two years our dear friend 
had been losing ground. Her strength was 
slowly declining, and her asthmatic symp- 
toms became more decided. The unexam- 
pled heat of the season was telling upon her. 
Early in July she took cold and was confined 
to her bed for several days. On Wednesday 
the 20th of that month she went with us to 
Cresson, where we had spent every summer 
together since ’61. A mournful event directly 
occurred. Our friends Mr. GEORGE C. FRAN- 
ciscus and his family were our fellow-trav- 
ellers to Cresson. Already in very delicate 
health, he was taken sick the night of our 
arrival. Early on Saturday the crowded 
hotel was thrilled with the announcement 
that he had died that morning. Miss Ho t- 


LOND had, prior to this, assimilated her own 


IN MEMORIAM. 81 


condition to his—nor was she alone in this 
impression. The sudden termination of his 
case affected her deeply: first, in her sym- 
pathy for his bereaved family; and, sec- 
ondly, in its bearing upon herself. That 
very day she said to me with strong emo- 
tion, “I shall die just as Mr. Franciscus has 
died."—On Monday I came to town to con- 
duct the services at his funeral. The large 
concourse who were present, many of them 
from distant parts of the State, attested the 
high estimate in which he was held, and the 
wide-spread sorrow for his death. He was, 
indeed, a man greatly and deservedly beloved. 

Ieteturned to Cresson. on. Wednesday 
evening, and that night Miss HoLLonp ex- 
perienced what seemed to be a severe attack 
of indigestion. It was really a new develop- 
ment of her subtle heart-disease. By a good 
Providence, among the guests at the hotel was 
one of Our eminent physicians,—Dr. GEORGE 
W. Norris, a gentleman who combines the 
most refined sensibilities and the utmost 
amenity of manners, with professional skill 

6 


82 HARRIET FOLLOND. 


and experience which form a part of the Medi- 
cal fame of our city. Although himself in 
feeble health, he came promptly, on being in- 
vited, to the relief of our dear invalid, and, 
after that, allowed no day to pass without 
seeing her twice. His visits were a source of 
real comfort to her, and she daily expressed 
to me her grateful sense of his kindness. At 
the end of a week, all the adverse symptoms 
were abated, and we noted with thankfulness 
a marked amelioration in her general condi- 
tion. Unable to retain more than the slightest 
measure of nourishing food, her strength had 
declined rapidly: she was extremely restless ; 
and got but a little sleep. Now we hoped for 
better things—all but herself. At a very 
early period of her illness, she said to me— 
“T know my own situation better than any one 
else can know it. I am not going to recover.” 
And then she gave me several directions 
respecting domestic matters and her funeral. 
To these apprehensions, neither myself nor 
any one of the little group around her, could 


respond. Had the attack come in the form with 


IN MEMORIAM. 83 


which we were only too familiar, we should 
have known how to estimate it. As it was, 
we could not believe that it was a dangerous 
illness. We looked forward to her recovery 
with a confidence naturally increased when, 
to our eyes, the crisis had passed, and it re- 
mained only to build up her strength. But 
God was preparing His child for her departure. 
Her own thoughts were still of death. For 
three brief days more we were permitted to 
indulge the expectation of her recovery, when, 
on the following Monday evening, she sud- 
denly grew worse. With the early morning 
of Tuesday (August 9) we were gathered 
around her. About three o’clock she said to 
me—“Oh, Mr. B., I’ve been very sick; but I 
feel better now: I think it is passing off.” 
Mindful to the last of the comfort of others, 
she added—‘“ Do you go back to your bed, 
and [ll turn over and go to sleep.” This was 
faseewhat she “did. She went to sleep. A 
peaceful sleep it was—broken only once, when 
she replied intelligently:to a question of Dr. 
Norris. With her head slightly drooping and 


84 HARRIET HOLLOND. 


resting upon my hand, in a few minutes more 
the gentle breathing ceased, and another pure > 
spirit had joined the company of the re- 
deemed. | 


During these twelve days of sickness, the 
nursing had devolved almost wholly upon 


d) 


one of her faithful “ girls,’ her constant at- 
tendant in her summer excursions for seven- 
teen years. Day and night was she at her 
side. Always with her in her illnesses, she 
understood her ways better than any one 
else, and could more readily anticipate her 
wishes. With quiet step and efficient hand 
she pursued her anxious ministration—never 
impatient and never wearied. How well she 
fulfilled that sacred trust, found fit expression 
one day when the grateful sufferer, touched _ 
by her unceasing and affectionate offices of 
kindness, called her by name and exclaimed 
out of the depths of a thankful heart, “I love 
you like a sister.” The consciousness that 
she contributed so much to mitigate the 


trials of that last illness and to smooth the 


IN MEMORIAM. 85 


dying pillow of one so beloved of God, will 
be a well-spring of comfort to her through 
life. 

My own family were present from the be- 
ginning. Another of her intimate friends, 
Mrs. JuDGE Joneses, of Philadelphia, came to 
Cresson a few days before: the closing scene, 
and received a cordial welcome. Entering at 
once with a genuine sympathy into the exi- 
gencies of the case, she gladly brought to her 
relief all the resources of her practical wis- 
dom, her high culture, her profound religious 
experience, and that strengthening aid which 
it is the rare faculty of some persons to com- 
municate by their very presence. With 
unfeigned thankfulness did our dear invalid 
acknowledge the goodness of God in bringing 
her friend to her at this crisis. 

Of her own exercises it must suffice to 
say, that in the first stages of her illness, she 
did not escape those sharp conflicts with 
unbelief and doubt, which so often harass 
for a time even the most matured believers 


on a bed of sickness. Afterward she en- 


86 HARRIET HOLLOND. 


joyed more peace. Habitually was she seek- 
ing light and strength and filial confidence 
and an assured hope, at the mercy-seat. 
Although painfully oppressed with the fluc- 
tuating pulsation, the embarrassed breathing, 
and the all but insupportable exhaustion and 
restlessness, which at times marked her case, 
no one heard a murmur of impatience from 
her lips. Her whole tone throughout was 
that of unquestioning submission to the will 
of her Heavenly Father :—“ Not my will, but 
Thine, be done!” And those sweet breathings 
of devotion addressed to “her dear, precious 
Saviour,’ with which her soft voice would 
break the stillness of the night-watches,—can 
we doubt, that He heard the gentle cry, and 
revealed Himself to her as tenderly as He 
did to Mary in the Garden, and assured her 
at length that He was er Redeemer, and hers 


forever ? 


IN MEMORIAM. 87 


XV. 


Mr. Rosert Ewinc, long an invalid, had 
died just three months before. It has been 
already mentioned that this upright and ex- 
cellent man was Miss HoLionp’s step-uncle. 
On returning from his obsequies, she said to 
me :—‘“I shall not have a single relative to 
follow me to the grave.’ “You may have 
no relatives, Harriet,’ was my reply, “but 
there will be no lack of mourners.’ This 
was fully verified on the afternoon of the 12th 
of August. The throng that pressed into 
every part of that beautiful but desolate man- 
sion, wore an aspect of unwonted sadness— 
unwonted, even for a funeral occasion. It 
comprised all her personal friends who were 
in the city, and a concourse of the poor. Her 
“Juniper Street women” were there in force. 


No one came, apparently, from barren respect 


88 HARRIET HOLLOND. 


or courtesy. The anomaly was presented of 
a large house filled, not with conventional 
but real mourners, although no tie, even of 
remote consanguinity, had been sundered as 
toa single individual among them. But other 
sacred ties had been ruptured. ‘‘ This woman 
was full of good works and almsdeeds which 
she did:” and many were the widows and. 
children who now came to weep around the 
bier of their best earthly friend. Nor these 
alone. ‘‘ The rich and the poor met together” 
in this scene, and commingled their tears 
over their common loss. Appropriate ex- 
pression was given to the general grief in the 
impressive funeral services, which were con- 
ducted by the Rev. Dr. W. M. Rice and the 
Rev. SAMUEL T. Lowriz. ‘And then we bore 
the precious remains to Laurel Hill, and laid 
them to rest among her kindred—there to 
await the coming of the Lord. 

As I describe these closing scenes, there 
lies before me in HarRIET’s writing, a copy of 
a letter sent to her from a distant city just 
after her sister Fanny’s death (Oct. 1842), by 


LIN MEMORTAM. 89 


a near relative of my own, to whom she had 
paid a visit that summer. It is so singularly 
and touchingly applicable to the elder sister, 
that it may serve as another clasp to bind 
these two sweet names together in my simple 
narrative. 

“With regard to the inquiry made by you 
relative to FANNY’s particular state of mind 
last summer, I know not that I can give you 
any further information than you already pos- 
sess. She did not unfold her whole heart to 
me: and when she did give expression to 
her personal feelings and personal griefs, it 
was with a painful effort. She suffered much, 
as was quite evident to me; though some- 
times, I doubt not, the worship of the Sanc- 
tuary in which she delighted, of the place of 
prayer where, if strength allowed, she always 
wished to resort, and her private seasons of 
devotion, were severally a balm and consola- 
tion to her heart. Sometimes, too, I believe 
my words of comfort and hope ministered to 
her enjoyment, and until the conflict of feel- 


ing occasioned by that sore trial threw her 


gO HARRIET HOLLOND. 


back, there was an evident and decided in- 
crease of serenity and cheerfulness. 

“T cannot lay my finger precisely on this 
or that expression or demonstration of feel- 
ing: but there was that about Fanny Ho t- 
LOND which makes me about as sure that she 
is in heaven to-day as Iam of my own exist- 
ence. There was a deadness to the world; 
the bowing of an humble and contrite spirit 
before God; a universal spirit of meekness 
and love; a relish for spiritual things; a con- 
stant looking upward towards heaven when 
she was not looking downward as she oftener 
was (while with us) into her own heart, and 
backward upon her life, casting upon both, 
not the accustomed self-complacent glance of 
many a professing Christian, but the self- 
loathing look of a soul that views itself in the 
light of eternity,—tokens like these there were 
which could not be misinterpreted. Doubt- 
less disease had much to do with her peculiar 
views at that time. But the contrition and 
the humility were not the effect of circum- 


stance. They were ingrained in the very text- 


IN MEMORIAM. gl 


ure of her character; and Fanny could no 
more have thought more highly of herself 
than she ought to think (I speak it reverently, 
not forgetting that none here ‘have already 
attained or are already perfect’) than one of 
the saints above could glory in his graces or 
achievements. And why? Because the same 
grace which keeps those bright spirits hum- 
ble, had made and kept her humble also.” 

How striking the coincidence in the re- 
ligious experience of these sisters! And how 
joyful has been the reunion between the two 
who had “gone before,’ and her who has 
now joined them! Deep were the draughts 
they had taken of earthly sorrow. Alike 
had they been 


“tossed about 





With many a conflict, many a doubt, 


Fightings and fears within, without.” 


Through all vicissitudes, even in the 
“cloudy and dark days” of their pilgrimage, 
not one of them faltered in that grateful, 


tender devotion to the Saviour which would 


Q2 HARRIET HOLLOND, 


have made her prize it as the sweetest of all 
ministries, to be permitted to wash His feet 
with her tears and wipe them with the hairs 
of her head. And now, these sorrows and 
temptations ended, they are together before 
His throne, the blessedness of each enhanced 
by the others’ redemption, and all filled with 
“joy unspeakable and full of glory.” Surely 
if there be any one class among the ransomed 
to whom heaven will be more welcome than 
to any others, it will be those whom the 
Church so well knows and loves and cher- 
ishes as her “bruised reeds.” These precious 
sisters, upon whose paths there lingers still 
the softened radiance of the better country, 
what pen shall describe or heart conceive 
the fulness of their bliss, in exchanging the 
conflicts and trials of earth for the “ Saints’ 
Everlasting Rest?” Together do they bow 
“before the throne of God and serve Him day 
and night in His temple; and He that sitteth 
on the throne shall dwell among them. They 
shall hunger no more, neither thirst any 


‘more, neither shall the sun light on them, 


LN MEMORIAM. 93 


nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the 
midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall 
lead them unto living fountains of waters: 
and God shall wipe away all tears from their 
eves:’ 


“For brightest, Lord, on weeping eyes, 
The Happy Fields do break ; 
Those golden gates, those smiling skies, 


Thy mourners gladdest make. 


‘‘ How eager to the Realm of Rest 
The weary pilgrims come; 
What hearts like hearts forlorn, are blest 


In the sweet Heavenly Home! 


‘‘'These tears, these pains 





what bliss they wake 
The Happy Fields among! 
How sweet, how rapturous they make 


The everlasting song! 


“The memory of these mournful years 
The heavenly joy fulfils; 

More sad and lone the Vale of Tears, 
More bright the Eternal Hills.” 





PG oN Le, 


I. 


Ir seems proper to include in this volume, the 
following just and beautiful tribute from the pen 
of Mrs. JupGE JONEs, which was published soon 
after Miss HoLtonn’s decease :— 


OBTTUARY. 


Died, at Cresson, Pa., on Tuesday the goth inst., HARRIET 
HOLLOND, of Philadelphia. An obituary notice, a tribute 
to the departed, is sometimes a mark of respect, sometimes 
a sense of what is due to human character, sometimes the 
overflow of a loving heart. This tribute embraces more— 
even gratitude to God for such a representation of Gospel 
living, for such a light, such a lover of the human race, 
such a “‘ feeder of the hungry, and clother of the naked, 
and visitor of the sick;’’ such a strong arm and open hand 
in the Church of Christ, such a full and complete exempli- 
fication of a “true friend,’”’ that character so rarely found 


in the walks of life. No language can portray this char- 


(95) 


96 : APPENDIX. 


acter as she stands in her deep humility, clothed in all the 
grace which her loving Lord so lavishly bestowed upon her. 
Born in the bosom of the Presbyterian Church, reared under 
a faithful ministry (for thirty-eight years a member of Dr. 
Boardman’s church), surrounded by all the refinements of 
life, as well as by the joys of a happy honie, she sought her 
pleasures in the society of congenial friends, rather than in 
the gay walks of the world. Beautiful as her natural char- 
acter was, the Great Refiner would make it a model of 
human excellence, so He placed her in the school of afflic- 
tion. Here she learned lessons of submission and self-con- 
secration. Father, mother, brother, sister after sister de- 
parted, until in a few years the grave closed on the last 
member of her family, leaving her the sole representative 
of a once large household. Sweet Christian ministries 
gathered about her in her desolation; relationships were 
woven round her heart, such cnly as the Gospel of Christ 
can weave. She looked forth again upon the world with 
a cheerful spirit, sanctified by sorrow, considering herself 
not her own, and using her large means for the advance- 
ment of the Redeemer’s kingdom, and the mitigation of 
human suffering. Her chief characteristics were humility 
and benevolence, the highest type of both. For nearly 
twenty years Miss HOLLOND has had a constant reminder 
that any moment she might be called into the eternal world; 
but this did not affect her habitual cheerfulness, or ever 
intrude itself upon her friends by murmur or discontent. 
She was forgetful of self; her piety was unobtrusive; it was 


the inwrought work of the Spirit, apparent in action and de- 


ALP ENOL. Q7 


votional duty, not in word. She was a meek and lowly 
disciple of a meek and lowly Saviour—a friend of Jesus 
and of all who loved Him. Her life bore testimony to His 
faithfulness, so that when the call, “Come up higher,” 
reached her ear, she had nothing to do but to breathe 
her spirit gently away into the bosom of Him who has gra- 
ciously given the Church such an example of faith and pa- 
tience. Surrounded by those she loved, at the beautiful 
mountain retreat, her chosen summer resort, HARRIET HOL- 
LOND entered into rest, just at the break of day, on the morn- 
ing of the 9th inst. Three days afterward her remains were 
borne to the Cemetery at Laurel’ Hill, followed by a large 
concourse of true mourners. ‘“ The righteous shall be in 


everlasting remembrance.” ESP. 3. J: 


98 APPENDIX. 


II. 


WHILE these sheets have been passing through 
the press, I have received from a dear friend of 
Miss Ho.Lionp’s, already mentioned, a REQUIEM, 
unpublished as yet, with which I am happy to 
conclude this volume. ‘Those who have known 
the parties, will not be surprised on finding here 
the truest sensibility and the tenderest love, united 


with exquisite poetic grace and beauty. 


a 


A NEW GRAVE AT LAUREL HILL. 
AUGUST 12, 1870. 


BREAK, break the summer earth, 
Slowly our dead comes forth, 

Last of her race! 
Near those who gave her birth, 
Near those whose sunny mirth 
Blessed, once, her home and hearth, 


Make ye her place! 


With holy reverence touch 
The graves she loved so much, 


The dust of years; 


APPENDIX. 


Tended from early youth, 

Cherished with faithful truth, 
Watered with tears; 

Graves of the long ago, 

Tears that have ceased to flow, 
Memories gray; 

Time-hallowed is each mound; 

Light fall your footsteps round, 

The while you break the ground 

For her who comes this day, 
Beside her dead 

Her tired heart. to lay, 


And weary head. 


Sisters and sire lie here; 
Man in his prime 
Came hither on his bier: 
Maidens,—oh rarely dear, 
Dear for all time,— 
Sought ’neath o’erspreading trees 
This home of sanctities; 
Child-life, as fair as brief, 
Fluttered, like summer-leaf, 
Falling too soon, 
Ere yet Life’s year of grief 
Had reached its June, 
Drooped, like the early rose, 


Entered this calm repose. 


99 


100 APPENDIX. 


All, all had passed away; 
Yet she who comes to-day 
To this green rest, 

Went on her lonely way 
Blessing and blest; 
Through sorrow’s mist and haze 
Raising to Heaven, 


Tear-stained,—a patient face,— 





Trusting,—a heart, through grace 
Not wholly riven; 

Grief-softened, sanctified, 
Dwelling afar 

Where they who early died 


'God’s angels are. 


For the deep yearning love 
She bore her dead, 
None less than fs, above, 
Stood her in stead; 
Our human hearts. gave theirs, 
Poured out like rain 
Daily and nightly prayers, 
Praying, through all the years, 
““God, ease her pain, 
Let Thy sufficing grace, 
Holy, Divine, 
Make her heart’s empty space 


Altar and shrine.’’ 


ATLeENVvypr, 


How her large heart loved all! 

Best loving One / 

Yet shadows dim would fall, 

Crossing her sun; 

Now she has cloudless light, 
Boundless and Infinite; 

Her tears are shed :— 
Where Faith is lost in sight, 
‘““There shall be no more night,” 

So God hath said. ° 


Borne by young arms she loved 

(As it so well behooved), 
The burden nears; 

Her grieving Poor, low-bowed, 

Mingle among the crowd, 

Grief unrepressed and loud 
Wails through their tears; 

True hearts, that clung to hers, 
Quiver with pain, 

As funeral anthem stirs 
Anguish in vain; 

On, then, ye Bearers, on! 

. Lay your beloved one down; 

Dust give to kindred dust, 
’Mid flowers that fade; 

Pure spirit of the Just 


Perfect is made! 


IOI 


102 APPENDIX. 


Earth passes,—life is fleet ; 
Heaven must needs be sweet 
To her who comes this day, 
Beside her dead 
Her tired heart to lay, 
And weary head. 
Beneath the summer sod 
Then give her place, 
She passes hence to God, 
LAST OF HER RACE! 


ASHLEY GRANGE. 




















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